"Good Night and Good Luck"
In the movie, Good Luck and Good Night, Murrow editorialized Senator Joseph McCarthy by bringing hard issues on Communism into his matter. I found his tactic to be very profound when he criticizes the false information that McCarthy had contradicted himself with. It seemed to me that he was presenting a different view on McCarthy with listing reasonable facts to back it up with and that always make things more interesting to watch or listen. His actions were not pleasant to the company because it was heated debate issue.
This is clearly seen at the end of the movie when Bill Paley talked to Mr. Murrow and Mr. Friendly how Murrow is oppressing the people that Bill Paley has to fight and communicate with to keep the company running. Over all, Murrow wanted to bring this big issue to the public eye to inform them about the politics and that is very important for people to know. He did what was right even if it cost his job. After listening to his speech, I can tell that Murrow thinks there is a downfall in broadcasting making it a possible answer to why Murrow picked to editorialize people. This way he can change the way television entertainment system works.
Overall, when stating a personal comment in journalism will put the other team members at risk. This is a risk to others because the journalist on the news is representing the opinion of his or her network. Murrow did that to his team members. In my opinion editorializing can come with an exception like if the whole network decides on a certain opinion then it might be okay to state it, like an editorial in a newspaper. Otherwise taking side in journalism I think is not fair to do.
Sometimes that statement might provide us with another viewpoint, like Murrow did about McCarthy, and other times those statements just stir up heated debates that people will get tired of listening to. Also, an accuser might fight back verbally to defend themselves. For example, when McCarthy was being accused about his speach, he deliberately fought back by finding false in Mr. Murrow.
To add on, lately there was a similar case where a reporter Juan Williams was fired because he stated an offensive statement on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor." The Washington Post stated Williams quote that said "But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." Here he was not trying to give another point of view on Muslim’s; he just stated what he thought and no facts to back him up.
His quote only reminded people of the stereotype attributed Muslim people in America. Many people might agree with Juan Williams statement, but I think this statement was a little too harsh. To conclude, people want to hear what they find to be true and get entertained, they are making journalism to be more of a customer service. Watchers and listeners will like certain networks just because they give them what they want.
There was another incident on Fox9 network interview that anchor Heidi Collins did with Secretary of Minnesota State, Mark Ritchie. She didn’t just ask him questions about the governor election but forced him to answer her certain questions by interrupted Ritchie to make her own comments in way that made the senator and others look bad. Collins probably wanted to inform people of what is going on among governors but she went overboard presenting her opinion.
I think what she did was rude. People can tell when the reporter is pushing the answers to fit what their opinions states. No one who is interviewed likes to be pushed at. In my opinion when journalists take sides this makes them look bad in front of the viewers, especially when he or she gets very hostile and overtone about certain subjects. Comparing Collins and Williams, Collins used a different approach to give opinions to people where Williams clearly states his opinion. That is why she didn’t get fired.
These picture are taken from the movie
Murrow
Joseph McCarthy and Murrow talking over the television
Murrow and his partner Freindly are waiting to talk to Bill
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